In high-end arena (field, pitch or stadium) lighting, like the Philips ArenaVision products, a large number of luminaires are distributed around an arena or stadium to attempt to create a uniform light intensity on the field or pitch. For example a football stadium may have a lighting plan or design where the lighting system contains more than 100 luminaires each located on the stadium and with a desired aiming point on the pitch to attempt to provide a suitable lighting effect. In stadiums and arenas the sports area is lit by so-called pitch lighting to create a well-lit environment. Especially for broadcasted events like Olympics or world championships in soccer or rugby the homogeneity of the lighting from various angles (related to spectator positions but even more important to camera positions) is a key requirement in the design. Typically the lighting system planner generates a light plan which contains for each luminaire information, such as the type of luminaire, the mounting location and orientation of the luminaire, and the aiming point (typically relative to the centre of the sports area). This lighting plan attempts to generate the uniform or homogeneous lighting effect. The homogeneity requirements are typically met by a combination of luminaires with narrow and wider beam angles that cover the whole field or sports area from various angles. The design of the luminaire layout and angles is currently a manual activity, supported by software tools that calculate the average, minimum, and maximum light levels on the pitch based on the luminaires, their positions (X, Y, Z) relative to the sports area, their exact direction, and the optics employed. The creation of good homogeneous pitch lighting with as few luminaires as possible is still a creative art of experts.
Based on the lighting plan the installer mounts the luminaires in the stadium infrastructure. In this phase, the installer also has to direct the luminaire at the desired aiming location in the field using the lighting plan orientation values as defined in the lighting plan.
From the luminaire location, the installer has a clear overview of the field but it is very difficult to accurately determine the aiming spot. The alignment of the luminaires is prone to errors and the beam patterns generated by the luminaires may be difficult to align and combine to provide the expected or desired homogeneous lighting effect. There have been several approaches to attempt to overcome such issues. U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,015 for example addressed the same problem of creating homogeneity of lighting on a sports field by providing a reflector for a HID light fixture wherein, by the orientation and positioning of the lamp within the reflector, an essentially oval shaped light pattern is generated. When projected onto the playing surface of a sports field, the oval shaped light pattern translates to an essentially circular shaped pattern which allows for a more uniform and efficient overlapping of the multiple light outputs at the playing field level. However such a method does not enable the fine tuning of an implemented lighting plan to provide a homogeneous lighting effect. Furthermore such a system would be difficult to control once implemented.